Web feeding, tensioning, and form aligning apparatus



Aug. 28, 1934. w. A. KONERMAN ET AL WEB FEEDING, TENSIONING, AND FORMALIGNING APPARATUS 5 Shets-Sheet Filed Dec. 6, 1930 Aug. 28, 1934- w. A.KONERMAN El AL 71,984

WEB FEEDING, TENSIONING, AND FORM ALIGNING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 6, 19305 Sheets-Sheet 2 2a a Qwmmtom Aug. 28, 1934. w. A. KONERMAN Er AL1,971,984

WEB FEEDING, TENSIONING, AND FORM ALIGNING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 6, 19303 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 28, 1934 p 1,971,984

UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE WEB FEEDING, TENSIONIN G, AND FORM ALIGNINGAPPARATUS Walter A. Konerman, Cincinnati, and Ellis S.

Rump and Arthur L. Farr, Hamilton, Ohio, as-

- signors to The Miami Systems Corporation,

Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 6, 1930,Serial No. 500,566

3 Claims. (Cl. 197-133) This invention relates-to a web feeding,tensionvice in that several advantages are attained. ing and formaligning apparatus for the continu- These improvements are attained byapplying to ous form printed webs of billing machines of the theaforesaid mechanism a power equipped unit type embodied in the wellknown Underwood and wherein manual operation, variation of perfor- 5other fiat platen and other billing machines. mance, and otherobjectionable features are 60 An object of our invention is to producesuch'a largely, if not entirely, overcome. 1 device as will feed severalsuperposed webs in a The frame of the billing machine embodiestwo mannerthat will insure accurate alignment of the rearwardly extending siderails 11 and 12 which forms printed thereon, with the least possiblemount the web tensioning and aligning control effort by the operator,with a minimum of time device 13 which has been described in theapplica- 66 expenditure, and with less damage to the webs tionidentified above. The control device herein than is occasioned by otherdevices of the general illustrated consists of substantially identicaleletype known to us. ments to those shown in the copending applica- Afurther and more specific objectof our invention, but is somewhatdiiferent therefrom in that tion is to produce a machine of the typedisclosed, the feed rollers 14 are locatedabove the tension- 70 in whichthe operator is relieved of much of the ing or snubbing rollers 15 ofthe control deviceinmanual detail work involved in' operating the steadof in horizontal alignment. This is conmachine, thereby permitting oftheoperator givducive to an easier tln'eadingof the websbetween ingexclusive attention to the actual form alignthe rollers of the device,as well as contributing ing, and recording operations attendant in opergreatly to the ease of movement of the control 75 ating the machine.device and passage of webs therethrough. These and other objects areattained in the At the rear of the side rails 11 and 12 is devicedescribed in the following specification and mounted the power unit 16by means of which the illustrated in the accompanying drawings incontrol device is caused to function. This unit which: i i r is framedby a casing having the shape shown in 80 Fig. 1 is an elevational view,partially in section, Figs. 2, 3 and 4, which extends from one side railshowing a machine of the type to which we have to the other and isattached thereto. A motor referred, equipped with our invention. 17which drives the device, is mounted on the Fig. 2 is a perspective view,upon an enlarged casing, and, through gears 18 and 19 drives a scale, ofthe portion of the machine incorporating shaft 20 having bearing in thehousing 21 form- 85 the features of our invention which involve the inga portion of the casing. A loose pulley 22 automatic or semi-automaticfunctioning thereof. which acts as a drum upon which a belt 23 is Fig. 3is a perspective view of the same portion wound for moving the controldevice to the rear Shown in & COV aving been 16- of the mounting frameof the billing machine, is moved to disclose interior mechanism, theview rotatively mounted on the shaft 20, but is con- 90 being taken fromthe back of this portion. trolled by a clutch 24 which connects it withFig. 4 is a perspective view of the same portion shaft 20'upon operationof grooved clutch collar shown in Fig. 3, and from. thesame face, but ata 25by yoke 26. This yoke-26 is operatedby slight different angle.rotary movement of shaft 27 which has pro- Figs. 5, 6, '7 and 8 aredetail elevational views jecting arm 28 for accomplishing this movement.95 Showing Parts Of 0111' p ved apparatus in the Arm 28 engagesa notch29, as shown in. Fig. 3, different positions they assume duringoperation or a fork 30, as shown in Fig. 4, whi h is arof the device.ried by a rod' 31 reciprocally mounted on the This is an inventionrelating to that type of frame of the machine and connected by a cablemachine which is specifically illustrated and deor link 32 to the foottreadle 33 of the machine. 100

scribed in copending application serially 'num- Associated with themotor is a switching m 332,180. which Was filed n y 1929, anism forcontrolling it. This is shown especially was executed by Ellis S. Rumpand Arthur L. in Fig. 4 and consists of an insulating block 34 Farr, a dis en d We ni g a d te s onin which mounts two switch levers 35 and 36pivdevice. In the specification and claim e ein Set otally 0n pivots 37and 38 respectively located reis described an improvemen p t e betweentheir ends. Movement of lever 35 is con device'to which we have justreferred, which, altrolled by movement of arm 28 through its-conthou hnot involving nya e i t e St uC- nection therewith by means of a block39 on ture thereof, does materially improv the operaarm 28, and a. pin40 on the block and extending tion and consequently the'functioning ofthe 'deinto a socket 41 in the lower end of lever 35.

, control device 13. A yielding contact 45 on lever 35, affords theproper. yielding and essentially perfect electrical contact to assureproper control of the motor 1'7 at such times as it is necessary to haveit function. Disclosure of an electric circuit including the motor'andswitch elements has not been made for the reasonthat it is not a part ofthe'invention disclosed and is but a simplematter quite obvious to oneskilled in the art. I

In operation, the parts shown are in normal position and condition,which means that treadle 33 is in elevated position as shown in Fig. l,with arm 28 in backward position, permitting clutch 24 to assume engagedcondition under influence of spring pressure from the clutch spring.Normal position and condition also means that switch lever 35, becauseof the-backward position of arm 28, occupies a position such as shown inFig. 5, while switch lever 36, because of the engagement of pin 43therewith, under pressure by finger 44 of control device 13 when it isin normal rearward position, occupies a normal position away from lever35 and consequently in broken circuit relation therewith. The roll ofstationery having had its several webs arranged as shown in Fig. 1, withone as propelling web preferably, and the .others occupying merelydraped condition, is thusalso normallyready for use of the apparatus.

Of course, the first operation of the operator is to fill in the webforms on the platen 45, by using the typewriter 46, as is usual; Afterthe forms on platen 45, by using the typewriter 46, have been filled in,the typewriter is pushed back to allow knife 47 to raised and thesuperposed webs on the platen to be disengaged from the hooked aligningpins 48 with which'the apparatus is equipped. 'The raising ofknife 47 isaccomplished by means of'treadle 33 which accomplishes the resultsdescribed, when depressed by the operators foot. With the raising ofknife 4'7,

cable 32 draws upon rod 31 and causes fork- 30 to move arm 28 forwardly,thereby moving switch lever 35 to the greatest tilted position shown inFig. 6, simultaneously therewith, causing clutch yoke 26 to draw uponclutch collar 25 to compress the clutch spring and disengage the clutch24. This operation therefore frees loose pulley 22, and, because of thesnubbing action of web 50 on rollers 52 and 53, allows web controldevice 13 to move forwardly as the webs are pulled forwardly by theoperator in order to bring a set of fresh forms into position. Forward-movement of the control device moves finger 44 from pin 43 and allowsswitch finger 36 to move to the position shown in Fig. '7, preparatoryto a closing of the switch by lever 35 as will be explained shortly. Itmay be pointed out that belt 23 which is wrapped on loose .pulley22, isattached to control device 13 in some such manner as shown in Figs. 1and 2, and'that the control device is provided with a-forwardlyextending finger 49 which engages the frame of the typewriter to arrestforward movement'of the control device and to permit rearward movementof the type- 'writer to move the control device rearwardly,

also as will be explained presently.

over the aligning pins 48, the control device 13 is now caused to bemoved backwardly by releasing treadle 33, which allows cable 32, rod 31,

and arm 28 to be moved rearwardly by the clutch spring functioning toengage clutch 24, and, through block 39, pin 40, socket 41, and lever35, to close the switch as shown in Fig; 8. The resultant operation isthen to start motor 17 and, through gears 18 and 19, and clutch 24, tocause pulley 22 to windup belt 23 as the control device is drawnrearwardly. Rearward movement of the control device is permitted withoutrestraint by the horizontal portions of the webs, because the snubbingaction effected by the webs to cause the control device to be movedforwardly when the webs have been drawn manually over the platen, hasbeen overcome due to clamping of the webs by knife 47 in connection withpins 48, the power of motor 1'? being suiiicient to cause thewebs toslip between rollers 52 and 53 as device 13 moves rearwardly. Thisslippage is the amount which occurs equal to the total backward movementof thecontrol device and actually is the amount of feed given the websduring each cycle of operation 'of the apparatus described above.- .Asthe control device is caused, automatically,thus-to move rearwardly, theone web 50, which is the taut web and acts to rotate the stationery roll51, is drawn uponby its assigned rollers or bars 52 and 53 of thecontrol device, thereby unwinding suflicient ofthe webs to reestablishthe necessary amount of drape of the remaining webs, preparatory to arepetition of the moving lever 36 to the position shown in Fig. 5,

and thus breaking the circuit and stopping motor 17. The entire sequence.of operations is now repeated as has been described. 7

It may be well to call attention to the fact that the details ofconstruction of the control unit. constitute no part of the inventionherein described, inasmuch as these features have already been describedin a copending application to which we have referred above. It also maybe advisable, to draw attention to the fact that such a power drivenmechanism as that which we have just described, is as readily applicableto other forms of the same general control mechanism which are wellknown and in common use in connection with billing machines of the longestablished type.

Having thus described our invention what we claim is:

1. In combination with a platen adapted to receive and position aplurality of superposed webs from a source of supply, a web tensioningand aligning apparatus comprising a control device for feeding the websand adapted to travel toward the platen under manual operation and awayfrom the platen under power operation, a source of power, a power drivenmeans connected with the control device, and a second means functionedupon completion of the manual operation to connect the source of powerwith the power driven means, all said parts being so arranged andrelated that feeding of the webs will be accomplished by movement of thecontrol device bythe power driven means.

2. In combination with a platen adapted to receive and position aplurality of superposed webs from a source of supply, a web tensioningand aligning apparatus comprising a control device for feeding the websand adapted to travel toward and away from the platen under manual andpower operation respectively, a source of power, a power driven meansconnected with the control device, a second means functioned uponcompletion of the manual operation to connect the source of power withthe power driven means, all said parts being so arranged and relatedthat feeding of the webs from the source of supply will be accomplishedby movement of the control device by thepower driven means, and aplurality of elements between which the webs are threaded, carried bythe control device, snubbing the webs upon movement of the controldevice toward the platen and allowing slippage of the webs between theelements upon movement of the control device away from the platen.

3. In combination with a platen adapted to receive and position aplurality of superposed webs from a source or supply, a pair of guiderails extending rearwardly from the platen, a web tensioning andaligning apparatus comprising a control device adapted to travel on theguide rails, a plurality of bars on the control device, between whichthe webs are threaded, said control device being movable toward theplaten under manual operation and away from the platen under poweroperation, a source of power, a power driven means connected withthecontrol device, and a second means functioned upon completion of themanual operation to connect the source of power with the power drivenmeans, all said parts being so arranged and related that feeding of thewebs from the source of supply will be accomplished by permitting webpassage between the bars upon movement of the control device by thepower driven means.

WALTER A. KONERMAN. ELLIS S. RUMP. ARTHUR L. FARR.

